Transcript
Okay, good morning. Welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. Sorry for the delay, ברוך השם was attending a ברית. Always we should be delayed for שמחות in our lives. Want to thank our generous parsha series sponsors. As always, Becki and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becki's father. Our learning should be לעלוי נשמת David Grossman, דוד בן מנחם מנוש. We're in פרשת חיי שרה, the beginning, page 106 in the ArtScroll Stone חומש. Thank you for braving the elements and joining us this morning. Not looking for sympathy from those in New York and elsewhere, but I'm just saying that Boca Raton this morning, when I came to shul at 6:15 this morning, it was 46 degrees, but the weather app said feels like 33. And we don't have heat. We're not set up for it, so anyway, thank you for being here. פרשת חיי שרה, page 106, ויהיו חיי שרה מאה שנה ועשרים שנה ושבע שנים, שני חיי שרה. Sarah's lifetime was 100 years, 20 years, and 7 years, these were the lives of Sarah. I want to begin today is the fifth יארצייט of the great Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, רב יעקב צבי בן דב אריה, whom we miss terribly, by we I mean the entire Jewish world, and I would argue the world. His voice of moral clarity and insight, his brilliant mind and even more brilliant heart, are sorely missed. So we'll begin with an insight he has, the introduction to our פרשה. And he writes the following, a well-known comment by רש\"י on the apparent superfluous phrase, שני חיי שרה. Let's look at רש\"י first. לכך נכתב שנה בכל כלל וכלל. Here the Torah adds the word year with each one, מאה שנה, עשרים שנה, שבע שנים. The much more efficient way to have formulated it would have been, she was 127. She was 100 years and 20 years and seven years. The repetition of the word years is redundant and feels entirely unnecessary. It must come to teach something. Says רש\"י what it comes to teach is, בת קוף כבת כף לחטא. When she was 100, she was as pure and innocent as she was at 20. בת כף לא חטאה שהיא אינה בת עונשין, אף בת קוף בלא חטא, ובת כף כבת זין ליופי. So just like one is only accountable for sin, so to say at 20, so too she at 100 was still as pure, innocent, and not accountable, she had not sinned. And at 20 she was as beautiful as at at seven. So Rabbi Sacks, picking up on this anomaly, this teaching of רש\"י writes, how could anyone say that the years of Sarah's life, and רש\"י, I'm sorry, רש\"י continues and says, שני חיי שרה כולן שווין לטובה. These were the years of Sarah's life, also redundant, superfluous. Once you told me she lived 127 years, I have the years of her life. I got it. Why do you have to end the sentence by saying, these were the years of her life? Says רש\"י, כולן שווין לטובה, Torah wants us to know all equal, all for the good. Wonders Rabbi Sacks, how could you say Sarah's life were equally good? Twice, first in Egypt then in גרר, she was taken against her wishes into a royal harem. There were years when despite Hashem's repeated promise of many children, Sarah suffered from infertility, unable to have even a single child. We know the Torah, the Torah tells us, תלמוד tells us that when someone is struggling with infertility, חשוב כמת. That loneliness, that lack of a feeling of continuity, it can be as painful, as unbearable as death. How can you say Sarah's life, 127 years, all were good, all were pleasant, all were pleasurable. There was a time she persuaded Avram to take her handmaid הגר, have a child by her, which caused her great grief and spirit. These things constituted a life of uncertainty and decades of unmet hopes. How can you say כולן שווין לטובה? So Rabbi Sacks quotes, many say this in the name of Victor Frankl, but Victor Frankl himself quoted it from Nietzsche, who was one of the most brilliant thinkers of the modern age and also one of the most dangerous. Yet, one of his most famous remarks is both profound and true. He who has a why in life can bear almost any how. He who knows his why, why are we here, why do we live, what do we believe, what do we believe about our immortality and eternity and the afterlife? He who has a why can bear almost any how. אברהם and שרה are among the supreme examples in all of history of what it is to have a why in life. The entire course of their lives came as a response to a call, a divine call to live in a land where they would be strangers, abandon every conventional form of security, and have the faith to believe that by living by the standard of righteousness and justice, they would be taking the first step to establishing a nation, a land, a faith, and a way of life that would be a blessing to all of humankind. אברהם and שרה, despite the promise they were given, did not have it. easy. It was not smooth sailing. It was a rollercoaster of ups and downs. And how did they navigate? How did they endure? Because they knew their why. And if you know your why, we know our why. We know our why is the רבונו של עולם, the Almighty, that we live in service of him, that we're not victims of chance and randomness, but there is order and purpose to this world. We know our why. We are here to serve, we're on a mission. We are here to repair and redeem his world. We know our why. And when one knows their why, they have the resolve, the tenacity to endure to face any how. And that's how שרה and אברהם, the first who were given that why, that mission, לך לך, they were sent with a purpose because they knew their why, they were able to endure every how. Surviving whatever fate threw at them, however much it seemed to derail their mission, אברהם and שרה knew that what makes a life satisfying is not external but internal, a sense of purpose, mission of starting something that would be continued by those who came after, of bringing something new into the world by the way they live their lives. What mattered was the inside, not the outside, their faith, not their often troubled circumstance. Faith helps us to find the why that allows us to bear almost any how. The serenity of שרה, and later אברהם's death, is eternal testimony to how they lived. The fact that we can testify, כולן שוין לטובה, because the fact that שרה knew her why meant they were equal in her ability to endure every how. She didn't say good years and bad years, pleasurable years, pleasant years and painful years. She said they were all שוין לטובה because they were all part of the mission. They were all part of the purpose. She knew her why, she can endure any how. I don't know if anyone read Eli Sharabi's book Hostage about what it was like to endure being held captive in the tunnels below ground, above ground, unbelievably and unbearably painful memoir of that torturous time. It's a well worth the read. It shakes us and jars us, but it's important to understand there are many insights. Now is not the time to share, but I'll tell you, he was in a tunnel being held captive, tortured, starved, deprived, obviously of his freedom and so much more that we take for granted, and he was struggling with the how. And Hersh Polin-Goldberg was united with him. Two groups of hostages were brought together for a short time, and Hersh is the one who quoted this teaching, quoted it from Viktor Frankl, and said, he who knows his why can endure any how. And Eli Sharabi credits his enduring through being held captive until he attained his freedom, just to learn that his wife and daughters had been killed on October 7th. What kept him alive was the hope he'd be reunited with them, but upon his freedom, he found out what had happened to them. He says he doesn't regret not knowing earlier because it was that hope that enabled him to survive and to live. But it was Hersh who gave him that resilience. It was Hersh who taught him that anyone who knows their why can live their how. And while that teaching is quoted in the names of others, it was אברהם who taught us, כולן שוין לטובה, that all were equal for good for שרה's life and later אברהם's, because the serenity of their death is testimony to how they lived. Now, this opening of our פרשה, we know the משנה in פרקי אבות tells us that אברהם, עשרה נסיונות נתנסה אברהם אבינו. אברהם endured 10 tests in his lifetime. And indeed, we are told that we too, walking in his footsteps, מעשה אבות סימן לבנים, we have our own challenges. We have our own tests. We confront our own tribulations. And just like אברהם, as the רמב\"ן writes, that אברהם realized his potential through the tests that he overcame, we too have no idea the strength we have within until it's tested. It's when we're tested that we find out who we are, what we're made of, what we can become. I love to tell, I probably said before in the פרשה שיעור, many, many years ago I read an article that was talking about this in general, and it said the following example of a story that there was a very wealthy man who hosted a dinner party at his magnificent, magnificent home and estate, and was giving a tour to the dinner guests before dinner was served. And among the many pools that he had in his estate, there was one filled with very dangerous sharks and piranhas, dangerous fish. And he challenged his guests, almost as a joke, whoever can jump in and swim and make it out the other side, I'll give you whatever you want, whatever you want of my wealth, of my assets, of my estate. They all turned to continue the tour, and they heard a splash. And they turned around and they saw someone in the pool swimming for his life, navigating in between these dangerous, lethally dangerous fish. The man made it to the other side. side. He climbed out, and he's wearing his formal wear, and he's dripping wet, soaking, and he's panting, exhausted, out of breath. And the host says to him, I promised. Whoever would swim to the other side can make it out alive, I'll give you whatever you want. What is it, what do you want? The man said, what do I want? I want one thing. I want to know who pushed me in.And the lesson is, sometimes when we're pushed in, we find the strength and the ability and the talent and the tenacity to make it to the other side. To jump in of our own volition, to volunteer, we don't have it. We don't have what it takes. But when we're pushed, those are the עשרה ניסיונות שנתנסה אברהם אבינו. אברהם אבינו was pushed 10 times. עמד בכולם and he surpassed them all and we too, when we're tested, when we're pushed, instead of resisting and instead of resenting, we can embrace the test to be able to grow, to realize potential that was latent within, to swim like mad, to make it to the other side, and to recognize that that test is helping us emerge to be our better or our best selves.Which was the 10th test? When does the list of 10 tests end? So the simple, the most popular answer is last week. The end of פרשת וירא, with the ultimate test, the pinnacle of the test, the test of עקידת יצחק. When אברם was told, take your son, your only son, the son you love and slaughter him. And אברם, אברם surpassed, אברם אברם fulfilled that test. But רבינו יונה had a different tradition. רבינו יונה's commentary on אבות writes the 10th test was the beginning of this week's פרשה. This episode, when שרה dies, this is the 10th test. Where's the test at the beginning of our פרשה? לך לך is a test, being thrown in the fiery furnace was a test, being told to sacrifice your son is a test. Where is the test at the beginning of פרשת חיי שרה? Where's the test? We've shared in the past several interpretations. Some say the test was, would אברם be filled with regret? After all, he went to fulfill this charge, he went to take his son, and he came home to find it cost him his wife's life. שרה died because she heard what happened, and she was literally scared to death. She was scared to death. Someone, and we learned from here the proper way to tell news. First you call and you say, everything's okay. Everyone's okay. But listen to this crazy story, your grandchild on the playground and they tripped and they fell and we had to go to the, but everything's okay. You start with everything's okay, then you tell the crazy story. You don't start with, שרה, did you hear? אברם took your son, your only son, the son you waited so long for, God told him to take him to the top of the mountain and slaughter him. And so he took him to the top of the mountain with a knife and he, and before you get to the end of the story, שרה, שרה had a heart attack. She was scared, frightened to death and she died. And how would אברם feel when he came back and he found out that while he may be passed that test, it cost him his wife's life? Would he regret? Would he look back and wish he hadn't done it? That too is a test. Sometimes we're tested about doing the right thing. And sometimes then we're further tested when doing the right thing didn't bring the results that we wanted. Are we still proud that we did it? Or do we regret, do we have remorse, do we wish we could redo it? This is what we say in our דאווענען every night in השכיבנו, והסר שטן מלפנינו ומאחרינו. השם remove the שטן from before us and from behind us. שטן before us I know. The שטן in front of me is the bag of Cape Cod potato chips. שטן in front of me is the juicy gossip I want to share. The שטן in front of me is the image I want to watch. The שטן in front of me is whatever the next temptation I face. But what's the שטן behind us? If it's behind us, aren't we done? If it's behind us, haven't we passed? The answer is, even when sometimes we do the right thing, when it didn't work out the way we wanted, do we regret having done it? אברם didn't regret. This too was a test. That's how some understand. Others say, אברם had to deal with עפרון. This low-life salesman who was אחד בפה ואחד בלב, this duplicitous, hypocritical, smooth-talking, conniving, manipulative salesman, עפרון החתי. Here אברם is in a state of grief. He's lost his other half, his better half. He's broken, and he has to now negotiate with this low life, but he does it with dignity. He does it with דרך ארץ. He never loses himself. He carries himself, we'll see in a moment, with a קידוש השם. Maybe that's what רבינו יונה meant was the test. But I want to share with you a third interpretation that I heard this year. You know what the test was for אברהם? Until now, the first nine tests, he shared the experience, he shared the challenge with שרה. He came back and he said, שרה, you won't believe what I went through. You won't believe what happened. You don't believe how I feel. You don't believe how hard it was. And he and שרה, he was able to confide, turn to her, talk to her, rely on her. This was the first time אברהם would have to go through something difficult knowing he was coming home to an empty house, knowing he wouldn't have someone to talk to, to confide in, to experience, to share it with. This was the first time, and for אברהם, that too is a test. There was the test of losing שרה, there was the test of negotiating with עפרון, but there was the test of now going through life. In fact, if you fast forward, I'll tell you an insight later. If you fast forward to later in the פרשה, תורה tells us, from Rabbi סולובייצ'יק, when אברהם dies, when אברהם dies, the תורה tells us that יצחק is broken. And how does it tell us that יצחק is broken? וינחם יצחק אחרי אמו. יצחק is comforted for the loss of his mother. It's interesting to note, this פסוק, that despite the obvious pain over שרה's death, יצחק is not mentioned at all regarding the mourning over שרה or her subsequent burial. Just he's comforted. Why doesn't it say he's broken? Why doesn't it say he cried? Why doesn't it say he gave a eulogy? So Rabbi סולובייצ'יק quotes the maxim of חז״ל. The גמרא in סנהדרין דף כ״ב tells us, אין אשה מתה אלא לבעלה. The mourning for a wife, or a wife for a husband, falls primarily on the spouse. An integral part of the imperative to mourn is the obligation to bury. הלכה states that the husband has primary responsibility for the burial of his wife. Yes, children losing a parent, it's painful. There's grief and there's loss, but it's also the way of the world. The way of the world is that children are meant to outlive their parents. So it's painful, there's grief and they seek comfort. But when a spouse loses a spouse, they lost their other half. And therefore, אברהם's loss of שרה is not comparable to יצחק's. יצחק is comforted. אברהם cries and is broken. אין אשה מתה אלא לבעלה. That relationship, that pain, that loss is categorically different from all other losses. And that's why, and that's how the תורה here is telling us, maybe the test, the final test, the tenth test of אברהם, is to have to go through שרה's loss without שרה. He doesn't get to sit שבעה with שרה. He doesn't get to at night talk about who came, what they said, who said ridiculously stupid things that weren't helpful and were hurtful. He didn't get to at night reflect. He didn't get to sit and partner with שרה in that grief experience. He had to do it without her, and maybe that was the tenth test that he, that he endured. Okay. There's another insight. Last week I introduced you to Rabbi Aaron גולדשיידר, my friend's wonderful ספר תורה United. And here he quotes a different of the חסידי masters. And this is the great פיאסצנה רבי, השם יקום דמו, קלמן קלמיש שפירא, the איש קודש, who was the spiritual leader in פיאסצנה, later in the Warsaw Ghetto. And his powerful sermons in the ghetto were collected. He scribbled notes, he buried, they were part of the עונג שבת archives. They were discovered in canisters buried underneath the Warsaw Ghetto in 1960. Not all of them. Maybe still one day we'll recover, we'll recover more. But he has a remarkable teaching here on פרשת חיי שרה from a דרשה he delivered שבת פרשת חיי שרה November 4th, 1939. November 4th, 1939. I can't imagine the responsibility of standing up and speaking to a group of skeletons holding on for dear life, who had lost almost everyone they knew and were living the torture of the Warsaw ghetto, seeing death, surrounded by death and by loss, and having to find something meaningful, something comforting to say. November 4th, 1939, this is what the פיאסצנה רבי said. This was his דרשה. It's in the holy אש קודש. ויהיו חיי שרה, שני חיי שרה. פירש רש״י tells us, 100 like 20, 20 like seven, כולן שוין לטובה. Asked the פיאסצנה, ונבין, מה מרמז זה לנו, שבכל הצדקניות והכשרות בתורה לא נאמר כל כך? What was so special about שרה that this is is not mentioned among any of the other righteous. Not only other צדקניות, righteous women, עוד זה יותר פלא, שגם באברהם אבינו שנאמר על כולן גם כן שנה בכלל. With Avram's loss also the word year is added and inserted, and Rashi there says, גם כן שנאמר שבלא חטא. מכל מקום, and yet with Avram, it doesn't end אלו שני חיי אברהם. Why don't we end the report of the length of Avram's life by repeating שני חיי אברהם? Even Avram didn't rise to the level of Sarah. Sarah is unique, Sarah is distinct, Sarah is the only one who rose to this level that we say about her, these were the years of her life, they were all equal. Why? What was so amazing? What was so special? And says the פיעסעצנער רבי, he quotes רב מנחם מענדל of Rimanov on the comparison drawn in the גמרא between salt and suffering. The גמרא says, ברית מלח ונאמר ברית יסורים. מה מלח ממתקת את הבשר, just like salt brings out the sweetness of the meat, it flavors the meat, אף יסורים ממרקין. So too suffering brings out. דהיינו מה מלח, אי מוציא זוהמתו כשראוי לקבל הנאה מהבשר. When it comes to salt and it comes to suffering, each of them draw out and bring out a flavor. Salt brings out the flavor of the meat, and suffering, as we said, the test that helps us realize the potential, it brings out the flavor of life. But there's another parallel, says the פיעסעצנער, quoting רב מנחם מענדל of Rimanov, that if you add too much salt, you ruin the meat. And if you have too much suffering, you ruin the life, you ruin the life. And this is what he said. He said, our master משה, these are the Rebbe's own words. I'm reading it to you in the translation. Right? The juxtaposition of Sarah's death at the beginning of our פרשה with the עקידה in פרשת וירא, a casual link, Sarah died after hearing her only son had been bound like a sacrifice. So the Rebbe said the following: Our master משה, the faithful shepherd, juxtaposed the death of Sarah to עקידת יצחק in order to advocate for us, to demonstrate what happens when there's too much suffering. Her soul departed. If this could happen to Sarah, so righteous a woman that when she was 100 she was like 20 with regard to sin, all of Sarah's years were equivalent for good, yet, she could not bear such deep agony. How much more so is this true for all of us? Even the greatest, most pious Jews of all time were fragile human beings who could be broken by intolerable, unparalleled suffering. The פיעסעצנער רבי boldly claims that Sarah's death, the result of overwhelmingly psychological trauma, was an act of on behalf of the all of Jews. Sarah's death was a protest to השם, a demonstration that the Jewish people cannot bear excessive suffering. She gave up her life in order to teach השם the limits of human suffering. She chose to show השם the effect of suffering when it's too much to bear. This is what the פיעסעצנער רבי told that group of Jews in November 1939. And when did he do it? What was happening in his life? Only two months earlier, the Rebbe had suffered one of the most excruciating blows of his life, the death, the murder of his only son, his daughter-in-law, his sister-in-law, all killed by the Nazi aerial bombing of Warsaw in September '39. In speaking of Sarah's loss, the Rebbe's own tormented voice is audible. In this gut-wrenching דרשה, the Rebbe affirmed that crushing heartbreak and psychological pain can be traumatic. In severe cases, a part of us dies. While the classic religious response to suffering is submission, Sarah confronted the creator, challenging heaven to be more responsive and compassionate. The gesture legitimates the Rebbe seems to say, our wrestling with theodicy. We're permitted, perhaps even obligated, to pressure השם in our search for beacons of truth and justice in the smothering fog of suffering. And he ends, the Rebbe ends with a תפילה. בזאת מתרץ הפסוק שני חיי שרה, שלכאורה חטאה שרה נגד שאר שנותיה. Sarah, so to say, sinned against the rest of her years. She could have and should have lived longer. But Sarah died as an act of protest to השם, I can't take the suffering, the thought of the loss, of the sacrifice of my own son. לא היה יכול להיות במלואה כל כך בליבה מעשה עקידה. אבל כיוון שלטובת ישראל עשתה, מרמז הפסוק שני חיי שרה. Because she did so as an act of protest to השם, on behalf of the Jewish people that השם, stop the suffering. Take away the suffering. Don't make us suffer so much. Therefore, Therefore the Torah equates all of her years as equal. לכן, and then the Piaseczner Rebbe in November 1939, two years after the heinous murder and loss of his son, daughter-in-law and others, the Rebbe ends with a תפילה. The Rebbe ends with a תפילה. And what's the תפילה? לכן ירחם השם עלינו ועל כל ישראל ויושיענו במהרה ברוחניות ובגשמיות בחסדים נגלים. השם, have compassion, and let rescue us spiritually and physically with an open sense of kindness. It's a powerful, powerful דרשה, פרשת חיי שרה by the Piaseczner Rebbe in November 1939. And ultimately, he is he is deported and murdered in a slave camp. השם יקום דמו, the great Piaseczner Rebbe. He's talking about Sarah, not being able to bear the pain, but he's talking about himself. He's talking about that protest. The article I wrote last week from a letter that I received from a Jew calling out and crying to השם in protest. Where are you and how could you, and I can't take the pain. And you see precedent as we wrote. אברהם challenging השם over סדום. You see precedent. יונה, איוב, יחזקאל, ירמיהו. You see precedent. And here you see precedent. The Piaseczner Rebbe says and claims, שרה אמנו literally gave up her life in protest to השם, stop the suffering. And a piece of us dies when we suffer excessively, exceedingly, too much. And we ask השם, like the Piaseczner Rebbe did, to end with compassion. Interestingly, ויקם אברהם. פרק כג פסוק ג. Sarah dies in קרית ארבע, חברון. אברהם came to eulogize Sarah and to cry. We've spoken in the past, we won't repeat. Ordinarily you cry, then you eulogize. Why is the Torah described that אברהם eulogized and then he cried? The חף in ולבכותה is small. Why is it small? We spoke about all these things previously. What does אברהם do next? ויקם אברהם מעל פני מתו. אברהם gets up. And here we have our second insight over Rabbi Sacks on his יארצייט. אברהם's grief is described in a mere five words. ויקם אברהם מעל פני מתו. Then immediately we read, אברהם rose from beside his dead. From here on he engages in a flurry of activity with two aims: buy a plot to bury Sarah, find a wife for his son. We've observed two people in the Torah who look back. One by implication, the other explicitly. נח ends his life drunk. The Torah doesn't say why, but we can guess. He's lost an entire world. It's not hard to imagine this righteous man overwhelmed by grief as he replays in his mind all that has happened, wondering whether he might have done something to save more or avert the catastrophe. Lot's wife, against the instruction of the angels, looks back at the cities of the plain, disappears under fire and brimstone, the anger of השם. She's turned into a pillar of salt, unable to move on. Against the background of these two stories, אברהם sets a different precedent. He marks his loss, and then he rises. אברהם hears the future calling him. ויקם אברהם מעל פני מתו. Here at the beginning of פרשת חיי שרה, חיי שרה certainly is a description of loss. אין אישה מתה אלא לבעלה, as we just spoke about. As the Piaseczner Rebbe describes, שרה אמנו in protest to השם over suffering. And yet אברהם sets the precedent. נח can't take his loss. What does he do? He gets drunk. Lot's wife can't take the loss of where she came from. What does she do? She's stuck, a pillar of salt. How does אברהם respond? He sets the precedent and he plants within all of us that same capacity. ויקם אברהם מעל פני מתו. How did the holy Holocaust survivors, how did they respond? How did they react to the destruction of their worlds? ויקם מעל פני מתם. They rose, they got up, they put one foot in front of another, they rebuilt. That's the Jewish way. That's the Jewish response. Not like נח to wallow, not like Lot's wife to be stuck and perseverate, to be paralyzed, but to be אברהם, ויקם, to be able to get up. It's easier said than done, with no judgment to those who are struggling to do it. But it means when a person loses a loved one, when they go through the unbearable, unthinkable loss, it means ויקם, to find the אברהם in us. You know, one of my favorite teachings, שפת אמת, the holy Gerer Rebbe, when we say in our דאווענען every day, the ברכה, מגן אברהם. השם, you protect אברהם, שפת אמת read it and understood it to mean you protect and preserve the אברהם in us. in us. השם put and planted in our very DNA the strength of אברהם, the faith of אברהם. We have the אברהם in us. And if אברהם came ויקם מעל פני מתו, then we too, to never God forbid move on, but to move forward. Jews don't move on, but we do have the capacity to move forward. And that's what אברהם teaches. Not moving on. A person who lost a loved one, we never move on. There's a hole in our heart. We never fully heal. We don't move on, but ויקם means we have the capacity to move forward.פרק כג פסוק ו. אברהם begins the negotiation. אברהם comes, בני חת answer אברהם, שמענו אדוני נשיא אלקים אתה בתוכנו במבחר קברינו קבור את מתך. They turn to אברהם, they say, \"You're a prince of a man. You're a prince of God. We all know you. Your reputation precedes you. You're an incredible human being. So whatever plot you want, איש ממנו את קברו לא יכלה ממך מקבור מתך. No one's going to stop you, no one's going to prevent you. Choose your plot, whatever it is you want.\" And the last Rabbi Sacks of the day, Rabbi Sacks says, \"This is the first instance, the classic example of קידוש השם in the תורה.\" נח's righteousness was turned inward. He had no influence on his contemporaries. לוט chose the way of assimilation. He tried to merge society, סדום, in which he had chosen to live. אברהם is different. He fights for his neighbors and prays for them, but he does not become like them. He lives out the principle of the Jewish imperative ever since. Be true to your faith and a blessing to others regardless of their faith. What's the result? When אברהם comes before the חתים, they say to him, \"You are a prince of God in our midst.\" This is the answer. אברהם is the first to make a קידוש השם. נשיא אלקים אתה בתוכנו.הלוואי, that should be written on our tombstone. הלוואי, it should be said about us at the end of our life. We will have lived a beautiful life. If the non-Jews, non-religious Jews, fellow religious Jews, if what they say about us is נשיא אלקים אתה בתוכנו, you were a prince of God, a prince of a man or woman, a prince of you were royalty, of השם. Your word was your bond, you had honesty and integrity, you were kind and caring, you lived with faith and you brought others close to השם. נשיא אלקים אתה בתוכנו. That's the reputation that אברהם has that precedes him. This is the first קידוש השם. נח was a צדיק, but he kept it to himself. לוט assimilated and was lost. אברהם discovers and lives for השם, but also spreads and promulgates the message to anyone who will listen. פרק כג פסוק ח. וידבר איתם לאמור אם יש את נפשכם לקבור את מתי מלפני שמעוני ופגעו לי בעפרון בן צוחר. So אברהם continues to approach them and he says, if it's truly your will to let me bury my dead, then listen to me, and intercede on behalf, introduce me to עפרון. He owns the cave I want, make an introduction, I'll give you a finder's fee, let's get this done. But what is the word? אם יש את, if it is your will, what's the word the תורה uses if it's your will? It's a very peculiar word. פסוק ח is an open book test. Look inside. אם יש את נפשכם. What a funny word. אם יש את נפשכם. What does נפשכם mean? Your soul. אברהם says, if your soul will allow, if your soul, and how do we understand your soul? Why did Artscroll translate the word נפשכם as if it is truly your will? נפשכם doesn't mean will, it means soul. So someone write a letter quickly to Artscroll. They got it wrong. Right? Wrong. Where did Artscroll get it from? רש\"י. זאגט רש\"י, נפשכם רצונכם.Why does soul mean will? Why does soul mean will? Says the הייליגע רב שמואל בערנבוים the ראש ישיבה of the מיר, ברוקלין, דברי שמואל. הנה נראה מכאן שמסירות הרצון הוא נקרא מסירות נפש, כי הרצון של האדם הוא נקרא נפשו. You want to know what's in someone's soul? You want to know what their soul is made of? Look at what their will, look at their want, look at their drive, look at their ambition. Look at what they strive for. What is our will, what's our רצון, reveals our נפש. Our רצון is our נפש. מסירות, think about it. What do we call a person who is willing to make great sacrifices in order to accomplish, we call it מסירות נפש. It should be מסירות רצון. What they're revealing is their their drive, their will. But we call the sacrifice of the will, מסירות נפש. מסירות נפש translates to מסירות רצון because if you want to know, if you want to know what someone's real, their נפש is all about, look at their רצון. I love to say, if you want to know what someone cares about, don't listen to what they say. Look at two things: their bank statement and their calendar. Look at a bank statement and a calendar and you know what someone really is made of. Not what they say, not what they talk about. If you want to know what someone really cares about, look how in how they invest their time and how they invest their resources. Look at a bank statement and look at the calendar. How we spend our time, how we invest our resources, reveals who we really are. נפשכם רצונכם. Like the משנה in אבות says, בטל רצונך מפני רצונו. וזה יסוד גדול בעבודת השם. צריך לבטל מרצונו לעשות רצון השם. Where do we see this and when do we talk about this? Which is the time of the week designated to work on this? Come on, people. What's the holiest time of the week? The הייליגע רעוא דרעווין. רעוא דרעווין is Aramaic for רצון שברצונות. בין השמשות, שבת מנחה, שלש סעודות. שבת מנחה is ואני תפלתי לך השם עת רצון. שבת מנחה, בין השמשות, שלש סעודות is עת רצון. ואני תפלתי לך השם עת רצון. שלש סעודות is called רצון שברצונות, רעוא דרעווין. When I make my will conform with His will, it's the most soulful time of the week. That's why we sing ידיד נפש אב הרחמן. The best friend of my נפש. My נפש is my רצון. נפשכם רצונכם. ולא רק מי שמוכן למסור נפשו ממש בשביל גילוי כבודו נקרא מסירות נפש, כל מי שמבטל מרצונו לעשות רצון השם. When you nullify and surrender your will for the will of השם. But השם, I want to say that thing. השם says, don't say it. But השם I really want to eat that. says, don't eat it. השם I really want to watch that. השם says, don't watch it. But השם I really don't want to give away that money. השם says give it to Boca Raton Synagogue. When you, when you're willing to be מוסר your נפש, השם says it by the way, I've heard him say it. When השם says be מוסר your נפש, it means be מוסר your רצון. Sometimes it's harder to be מוסר our רצון. It's harder to sacrifice and surrender our will than it is even our things. But they go together, כי נפשו של אדם הוא רצונו. And that's why רש\"י, it's a little, couple of little sentences. All of רש\"י is one word, נפשכם רצונכם. One word. One word רש\"י opens up worlds. נפשכם, you really want to know your soul, who you are, what you're made of? What's רצונכם? What's your drive? What's your will? You know how you know what somebody wants? Look at what they're doing. Otherwise you don't really want, you want to want. There's a big difference between what you want and what you want to want. How do you know the difference between what you want and what you want to want? Just look at what you're doing. What you're doing tells you what you want, because the things that you really want, you do. And if you're not doing it, you don't really want to do it, you want to want to do it. You follow that? And that's all in the one word of רש\"י, רצונכם. נפשכם. נפשכם reveals רצונכם. And it's important as we live life to know what goes into the column of my want and what goes into the column of what I want to want, and to move things over a column. To go from wanting to want, to learn, to דאווען, take care of our health and wellness, to sleep more, to be kinder. Stop wanting to want, and start wanting, so that it's something that will happen. נפשכם is רצונכם. פרק דלת פסוק אלף. So, אברהם loses his other half, his better half, שרה. And what happens next? ואברהם זקן בא בימים, bottom of page 108. אברהם is old, well on in years, והשם ברך את אברהם בכל. And השם blessed אברהם with everything. Which is a really peculiar thing to tell us. He blessed אברהם with everything. He did? He just took away his other half. אין אישה מתה אלא לבעלה. He just lost שרה אמנו. And that's called having everything? How does he have everything? So רש\"י says, what's everything? בכל עולה בגימטריא בן. ומאחר שהיה לו בן, היה צריך להשיא לו אישה. And now that he had a son, realizes I lost my past and my present. Now it's time to turn to my future. And who is my future? My son יצחק. And if I want the legacy and life of my שרה to continue, it's only going to be by finding my יצחק a wife so that he can have children, start a family, and we have a continuity and a future. בכל, השם blessed אברהם with everything. Everything in גמטריא, the numerical value is בן, son. He starts to now think about his son יצחק, and he realizes with the loss of his past and this enormous change to his present, it's time to invest and to figure out and to turn to his future. יצחק is his בכל.Says רבי שמואל בערנבוים, יש לדקדק למה לא כתוב בפירוש בתורה והשם ברך את אברהם בבן. So what do we have to play this cute גמטריא? For the גמטריא lovers? Okay, בכל is the same numerical value as בן. So just write בן. You have to do it through code, through numerical value. Just write השם ברך את אברהם בבן. בבן. השם blessed אברהם with a son. איזה לימוד יש ממה שסתם הכתוב, what can we learn from the fact that the Torah conceals this teaching by embedding it in a גמטריא? Oh. ויש לומר, דהיינו מצינו בברית בין הבתרים שאמר הקדוש ברוך הוא לאברהם. When אברהם had the ברית בין הבתרים, this conversation, this vision, the covenant with השם. And השם tells him אל תירא אברם, אנכי מגן לך. Don't worry, I'm going to protect you. שכרך הרבה מאד. אברהם says, but how do I know? I'm going through life alone. I don't have any children. ויאמר אברם הן לי and אברהם says, לא נתת לי זרע. I don't have a child. ובן ביתי יורש אותי. I don't have anyone to inherit me. And רש״י there says, מה תועלת בכל אשר תתן לי? Go back to the ברית בין הבתרים and what was אברהם challenging השם? What's the point of בכל, of all these things you've given me, if I have no one to give it to?I want to quickly point out, there are people who aren't blessed with biological children, but when a person lives a life that all of Jewish children are their children, they too have to whom to bequeath. In this sense, I always think about the Lubavitcher Rebbe and רבניתן. The Rebbe and his רבניתן had no biological children, but I don't know anyone, certainly in the last several centuries or millennia, who had more children than the Rebbe and the רבניתן, who had more children. This Sunday is the כינוס השלוחים. I should really go, I'm one of the שלוחים. I don't want to show off, but I'm a general in צבאות השם. I don't want to show off, but I'm a general. How many stars? It's not important, but I'm a general. The כינוס השלוחים has, I don't even know what it's up to this year, six, seven, eight thousand שלוחים around the world. You're telling me the Rebbe had no children? The Rebbe and his רבניתן had no children? Eight thousand שלוחים and all their families who live and breathe his message every single day, who have his portrait hanging in their שול every day, and you're going to say he had no children? So certainly one can have no biological children, but when they invest their time, their energy, their resources, their commitment to leaving a legacy, a future for the Jewish people in the world, they have many children.But אברהם in that moment turns to השם and he says, מה תועלת בכל אשר תתן לי? What's the point of בכל, of all that you're giving me if there's no future, if there's no one to give it to? Who am I going to give it to? אברהם לא בקש לבן כדי להשתעשע עמו. So why did אברהם want a child? Someone to throw the ball around with? Someone to bring him his slippers? Why was אברהם looking for a son, a child? Someone to bear his name, אברהם Junior? Could call Junior? אלא דאג שיהיה לו מי שיירש אותו דהיינו שימשיך את דרכו ולימודו בעולם. אברהם says what's the point? You've made me the biggest influencer. I've got 10 million followers on X, 20 million average views on YouTube. I'm transforming the world, but when I'm gone it all ends. So what's the point? Who's going to inherit? Who's going to continue? Who's going to pick up the baton after me? That's what הקדוש ברוך הוא promises him. Don't worry, there's a plan. And that's why he tells him he loves him. כי ידעתיו למען אשר יצוה את בניו ואת ביתו אחריו. ולפיכך, therefore, עכשיו כשבא זמן למצוא שידוך עבור יצחק. Now, we could spend the whole פרשת חיי שרה just, I'm starting a series soon, five to 10 minute videos, maybe 10 parts, maybe more, on שידוכים. שידוכים in sec, I got to figure out a good name, a catchy name. אמונה in שידוכים. I think important values and principles in שידוכים. I'm going to put out that series soon. We could spend all פרשת חיי שרה. on it. My friend צדיק texted me yesterday and we've been going back and forth. He says, this is my פרשה, חיי שרה. He's got all these דברי תורה, we're going back and forth. So here ר' שמואל בירנבוים extracts a lesson for שידוכים. If you have a child or a grandchild or a friend or neighbor or niece or nephew or you're in שידוכים, basically if you're alive, listen carefully. פסוק זה הקדמה לפרשנים. למה השתדל אברהם אבינו כל כך? Why does אברהם express and exert so much effort for the שידוך of his son? Why? Why doesn't he trust in השם? It's going to happen. The right girl is going to knock on the door and sweep יצחק off his feet. יצחק and this right girl, they're going to run into each other at a speed dating, at a at a at a singles שבתון. Why is אברהם putting in so much effort? אליעזר, he makes אליעזר swear, sends אליעזר with wealth, he puts all kinds of conditions on אליעזר. He דאווענט. Why is he invested so much in the initiative and effort, the השתדלות? איין רש\"י, כל טוב אדוני בידו שטר מתנה כתב ליצחק על כל אשר לו כדי שיקפצו לשלוח לו בתם. והזהיר את אליעזר, אזהרה חמורה. He makes אליעזר swear, calls all of his lawyers, writes up incredible documents, has them notarized. He puts in enormous השתדלות. Why? Listen to what he says. מוסר השכל לנו. כשאדם משתדל למצוא שידוך לבניו, when you're working on finding a שידוך for your child, צריך קודם כל לזכור שהבנים הם הכל. Before you find a שידוך for your child, you have to pause and remember and reflect that your children are your בכל. הם כל מה שיש לו לאדם, הם ימשיכו דרכו בעבודת השם יתברך. Your house, your car, your portfolio, your net worth. Your reach, your influence, your followers, your fans. All of it is not who you are. What is your בכל? Those children. Finding them their mate, creating their continuity, helping them build their home, helping them, empowering them, enabling them to pick up the baton and continue where you leave off, that's the בכל. That's the בכל. אז ממילא ישתדל בכל מה שביכולתו למצוא את השידוך הכי הגון. You can't be casual. You can't take it lightly. You can't make a minimal effort. The reason it takes your all is reflective that they are your all. A person has to put in their all for the שידוך because their child is their all. In fact, the גמרא in קידושין teaches that a part of the responsibility of a parent, of a father, is to find the שידוך for their son, להשיא אישה. מנלן, where do we learn that from? קחו נשים והולידו בנים. We learn it from a פסוק. He goes on and on, I want to get through many more ideas. He has pages and pages on this. But this is the message of ר' שמואל בירנבוים, that a person has to remember, השם ברך את אברהם בכל. It could have said, השם ברך את אברהם בבן. It doesn't. It says השם ברך את אברהם instead, בכל. Why? גמטריא to remember that that בן is the בכל. And therefore, when you're looking for the שידוך, remember what matters, what's important, remember who you are, remember what is your legacy. And therefore, don't approach casually or lightly. Take it seriously and put in your, put in your בכל. רב דרוק goes somewhat in the opposite direction. רב דרוק, and again, we have a lot more to say about this and we're going to say a lot more about this. But רב דרוק goes in a little bit of the opposite direction. רב דרוק points out the following. Skip ahead, פרק כ\"ד פסוק נ'. We have אברהם makes אליעזר swear, he sets the criteria, אליעזר goes on his way, he stops and he says to God, whatever woman woman will give me to drink and my camels to drink, she's the one, the חסד. And then indeed, she comes out, she offers the camels. He realizes she is the one. Even though the water rose to greet her and that miracle should have been enough to realize she's the one, he still waited for the sign. What do you learn from that, we've talked about in the past. And then he says she's the one, take me home to your father. And he meets לבן and בתואל. פרק כ\"ד פסוק נ'. Chapter verse 50. We don't often get to verse 50. Meaning, I don't just mean in the פרשה class we don't get to it, which is also true. How many פסוקים in this פרק? 67. I don't know if it is. It probably is the longest פרק in חומש. Why is it so long? 67 verses. Torah takes up and dedicates more space to this saga, to the story of the שידוך of יצחק, than it does to the laws of שבת. Many more, multifold. Why? So Rashi quotes חז\"ל who also pick up on this. But פסוק נ'. ויען לבן ובתואל ויאמרו מהשם יצא הדבר, לא נוכל לדבר אליך רע וטוב. When Eliezer comes and says, I met your daughter, your sister, I read the resume, I called the references. He actually doesn't say that because he didn't do that. He says I met her and I'm impressed by her and I see her מידות and she's the one. She's the one. I'd like to bring her home. And how do Lavan and Besuel react? What do they say? Seems good. מהשם יצא הדבר. Seems like this came from God, לא נוכל לדבר אליך רע או טוב. We can't say anything good or bad.Says רב דרוק in his להבות אש, הגרא, the Vilna Gaon, writes on פרשת פקודי, the great Vilna Gaon, כי התעסקות והשתדלות בעניני שידוכים, היא שווא והבל. Effort and initiative in the area of שידוכים is a waste of time. Not enough from Goldberg, the Vilna Gaon. וכה כותב שם בתוך הדברים and these are the words of the הגרא, of the גאון. אם השם לא יבנה בית, שווא עמלו בוניו בו, שהוא הזיווג שנקרא בניין בית כידוע. אם השם לא יבנה בית, ששווא הוא עסק בני אדם בעניין הזיווג, שהכל הוא מאת השם לעולם. וזהו שכתוב אך הבל בני אדם כזב בני איש במאזנים לעלות המה מהבל יחד. That's the הגרא. The הגרא says, we know חזל tell us, what has השם been doing? How has he been occupying himself? From ששת ימי בראשית. Since he finished creating the world, what is השם doing? מזווג זיווגים. He's making שידוכים. So while other areas of life he's delegated to intermediaries, this is how he occupies his time. השם is the ultimate and the great שדכן, and he's creating these matches. Says the הגרא, if that's the case, get out of his way. Stop trying to control, micromanage, manipulate. Effort? We have to do a little effort for everything. רב שלמה זלמן quotes this הגרא, and רב שלמה זלמן אויערבאך writes that people get it backwards. This is what רב שלמה זלמן says based on this הגרא. He says, in the area where people are supposed to show initiative, they don't show enough initiative and they sit back and say השם's in charge, השם will provide, השם will control. And in the area where they're supposed to say השם is in charge, השם is in control, they over excessively express initiative. When it comes to פרנסה we say, I'm doing my job but השם make me rich. השם I have faith in you. השם you're in charge. No, השם says, no no, buddy, get up, go to work, work hard. It's not going to happen. And in the area of שידוכים, we say השם don't worry, I've got it. I reached out to all the שדכנים, I send out the resume, I מוטשע and I repeat and I remind and I resend. Says רב שלמה זלמן, writing הלכה למעשה like this הגרא, that שידוכים are the area we have to take effort, take initiative, but it should be minimal. You have to. In today's day and age, I hate calling it a resume, I like to call it a profile. You have to have a profile, you should share it with people, remind them you exist, be on people's radar, attend appropriate places and events where השם can work his magic. But not excessive. If anything, minimal initiative and let השם do his work, let השם.So I don't think it's a contradiction what רב שמואל בירנבוים said and what רב דרוק is quoting from the הגרא. I think you can reconcile the two. רב בירנבוים is saying that the פשט, that בכל is בגמטריא בן, means our attitude. How hard we דאווען. How hard we דאווען. Last week in Cider Snippets we quoted a סגולה for שידוכים. There were 20 older בחורים in חברון who weren't married, they learned of this סגולה, they did it, and all 20 were engaged within two months. רבנית בת שבע קניבסקי credits all of her children getting married from it, and her father רב אלישיב told her it's why she and all her siblings got married. סגולה. What is it? You got to listen to Cider Snippets. I'm not telling you. You're going to have to listen to Cider Snippets from last week and you're going to have to figure out which one. You'll have to figure it out. I don't believe in סגולות. It's not a silly superstition. It's a special תפילה to השם inserted at a special time. This קפיטל תהילים said in this time brings extra merit to help those who are looking to get married. So that's what רב שמואל בירנבוים was saying, if you realize that your children and grandchildren are your בכל, they're everything, they're your legacy, they're your future, they're your life. If they're your בכל, you're going to דאווען with everything you have. But at the same time, while you put all of your faith in השם, your initiative will be minimal because this is... of the time and the area, get out of ה''s way and let him work his magic. That's what רב Druk continues. The גמרא in מועד קטן tells us, May ה' אישה לאיש. You see it in תורה, נביאים וכתובים. Where do you see it in תורה, may ה' that ה' is the one who makes these introductions? ויען לבן ובתואל ויאמרו, מה' יצא הדבר. Even לבן ובתואל knew it. Even the lowly לבן ובתואל knew it. When Eliezer says, I think we've got a match. Let's close the שידוך. לחיים. They say, מה' יצא הדבר. It's from ה'. It feels and it seems it's from ה'. Don't rush into things, take your time, know that you're ready. Listen to the future ten-part series on שידוכים. Listen to it. It'll be well worth it. I don't know what it is yet, it hasn't come out yet, but listen to it. It's going to be fantastic. So you have to take your time, you have to feel comfortable, you have to know you're right. We're living in a time, at least in my lifetime, an unprecedented amount of broken engagements and very early divorces. I think there's something we need to learn and do differently about dating to avoid that. But yet, מה' יצא הדבר, we have to realize. So, you got a name, you suggested it to a שדכן, the שדכן suggested it, it didn't come back. What are you going to do? Tell three more שדכנים? Force that person's hand? Make that boy go out with your daughter? It's מה' יצא הדבר. No. We don't believe in that. You did your minimal השתדלות, now get out of the way. מה' יצא הדבר. It comes from ה'. It comes from the תורה, נביאים וכתובים. מה', אישה לאיש. From ה', it's determined who will marry whom. ולכאורה מה' יצא הדבר למה לא יכול לדבר דבר טוב. So why do לבן ובתואל say, we have nothing to say, טוב או לרע. They should have something to say, לטוב. If they really believe that מה' יצא הדבר, they should answer what? לטוב. אלא הענין הוא כי זה מה שנזכר בשידוכים, אין אפשרות להועיל. אין אפשרות לקלקל. לא מועיל השתדלות בדבר. הכל הוא רק מה שהקדוש ברוך הוא עושה. What they meant was, we can't improve it and we can't ruin it. It's all from ה'. People worry. They say, you know, they called this reference but the reference didn't really know me and maybe they gave the wrong information and that's why they didn't give a yes. And therefore maybe we should call and call back and have the other reference who can correct and clear the picture. If ה' wanted it to work out, they would have given the yes. And if they gave the no, it's because it wasn't meant to be. You did your effort. Don't overdo it. That's what רב Druk says is what means, לטוב או לרע. It means other people cannot influence for good or for bad because why? מה' יצא הדבר. This is the area of life that it comes from ה', and other people can't interfere, לטוב או לרע. That's hard. Takes a lot of אמונה to believe that. It's an עבודה. It takes worth to, work to say, I'm not going to be annoyed, upset, that reference, that שדכן, that person. Maybe they blew it, maybe they interfered. Maybe they could have done something positive and they didn't. Maybe they did something negative and it needs to be corrected. That's the wrong thinking. We have to work on ourselves to realize and to think, מה' יצא הדבר. Minimal initiative and then get out of the way. It's from ה'. If he wants a yes, it'll be a yes. If it was a no, it's because ה' wanted it to be a no. That ה' is guiding with his hand this process more than any other, more than any other. מה' יצא הדבר. ומה' יצא הדבר that we have to end, though I don't want to. I'm halfway through my notes. Meaning we should be halfway through the שיעור if I were going to communicate and transmit everything I want to tell you. And there's so many amazing things to tell you. So many more great things to tell you and I didn't get to. So let's finish with one more. The last one comes from the new ספר from רב אברהם ישעיהו שליט\"א, מורי ורבי רב ישעיהו הלכה וליב נזר הפרשה בבראשית. Fantastic, each and every one, highly recommend. And he says the following. פרק כ\"ד, פסוק י\"א. Now, when Eliezer first comes, ויברך הגמלים מחוץ לעיר. This is Eliezer, we're going back. Eliezer first arrives, ויברך הגמלים מחוץ לעיר על באר מים. ויברך, ויברך. Torah tells us he made the camels kneel down outside the city at a well. When is it? When is it? לעת ערב, לעת צאת השואבות. It's evening, at the time when the women who draw the water come out. לעת ערב. ויאמר ה' אלקי אדוני אברהם. And this is when the next פסוק tells us, ויאמר, ה' אלקי אדוני אברהם, הקרה נא לפני היום. And then the פסוק tells us, he said, ה', God of my master אברהם, may you so arrange it for me this day and so on and so forth. Says רב שור, כבר העירו מפרשי התורה כי כנראה תיבות לעת ערב הם מיותרים. Why do I need to know? no, לעת ערב. What does it add to say it was the evening? All it had to say was it was the time of day when the women come to the well. Why do I have to be told it's the evening? שהרי עיקר הכוונה שהיא עת שאיבת השואבות, this is when the, the come to work the well. אין נפקא מינא, what do I care, the morning, the night, the afternoon? What do I care when? The זהר הקדוש says, הכוונה שהיה ערב שבת. עת ערב means it was ערב שבת. צריכים להבין מה הכוונה. What does it mean? Says רב שור, I'll tell it to you and summarize outside, since we're out of time. הקרה נא לפני, when אליעזר uses this time of עת ערב to turn to השם and say, \"Make it work for me,\" it's an allusion to אשר הקרה לפני, אשר קרך בדרך. Who are the ones who attacked us on the way? אשר קרך בדרך? עמלק. Who were דמסק אליעזר? הכיר בוראו ועל מני כבריה. This עת ערב means not the עת ערב the evening, it means עת ערב, the time of darkness, the גלות. אליעזר says when a Jew is approaching the גלות, when as a Jew is approaching being cloaked in darkness, הקרה נא, השם, protect us from the עמלק, hear us, and bring to fruition this reality. And what do we do? הקרה נא, what is the, what is the טראפ over ויאמר? And he said, השלשלת. שלשלת, the three-fold, is an allusion to אברהם, יצחק, ויעקב. When a Jew, שאנו נמצאים בגלות המר הזה, אנו מחכים לביאת מלך המשיח, אנו רואים כי מתמהמה לבוא, אף על פי שיתמהמה עם כל זה אחכה לו. ומה מוטל עלינו לעשות? הלא עלינו להרים קולנו בתפילה ולבקש תחנונים מהקדוש ברוך הוא. וזה מרומז בשלשלת בפרשתנו על ויאמר. כח התפילה שגילה לנו העבד. יש אומרים כי השלשלת מרמז, כי צריכים להתפלל בהרמת קול. Like the חידושי הלוי says, the שלשלת is a cry, a call, a prayer to השם. The threefold שלשלת is that cry, zigzag, up and down, that cry, that wail, that moan, לעת ערב. When we're entering the darkness of the גלות, הקרה נא ויאמר. We have to cry and call out and ask השם to protect us and to orchestrate the end of this גלות. This עת ערב, this עת ערב. אליעזר's attitude at that עת ערב is instructive of our עת ערב. And just like ערב שבת אחר חצות, one can already feel the energy of שבת. לעת ערב. The end of this גלות. We are now, writes רב שור, אתחלתא דגאולה. We're עקבתא דמשיחא. We're at the בחינה of after חצות of ערב שבת. You could feel אות אות משיח is coming. It's עת ערב, אות אות he's going to arrive. This is not the ordinary time of גלות. These aren't the last two thousand years. It's already the בחינה of after חצות. אות אות ערב שבת, משיח. משיח, אם ירצה השם, should come במהרה בימינו. It should be a day of בשורות טובות. Stay happy, stay healthy.
